This is our story

Our journey has just begun in 2016 as a small but effective design and installation firm, but our story started about 50 years ago with our grandmother and mother. Today, we are a fresh one-stop-party-shop which consists of a mother and her two daughters who learnt most of our precious skills through generations of secrets.

Through years of growing up between the flowers and the sewing needles, thinking that pins must be your best friend, we grew older helping more and more with each function, until we eventually left for university where we each studied our passion.  Thus, Mrs V was developed over nearly twenty years, and officially launched during February 2016.

We are three highly skilled people who often collaborate with a pastry chef and two musicians to offer you a full-blown wedding. Of course we are not limited to wedding packages – we also create couture garments for special occasions, produce unique accessories and bake cakes for birthdays. We offer you more than you can think of, the complete package – and the best of all, we make it fit into your budget!

Mariza van der Merve

Mariza studied Fashion Design while occasionally free-lancing as a Graphic Design Assistant and Photographer’s Assistant. In her final year of fashion, she started her BA Communication Science degree. After fashion school graduation, Mariza wanted to take a year to gather her thoughts on her career and further studies. That idea did not last very long. She started as a Fashion Lecturer at an exquisite private university in Cape Town while working on her Communication Science degree. She taught Pattern Drafting, Design History, Technical Drawing and the occasional important lessons of “Do not eat in my classroom” and “If you spill that coffee, I will poke you with the scissors.” It is here that the nickname “Miss V” was born from her students (her surname still being van der Walt at the time. Now she is van der Merwe – aka “Mrs V”). After three years of lecturing and many wedding dresses and birthday cakes, Mariza started toying with the idea of her own business…

ELIZNA VENTER (OWNER OF LETTERCHEF CC)

Elizna travelled Germany and Europe for a year, while working as an Au-Pair in Germany. She came back to South Africa, adamant to study Art (also, she returned with a brain full of rich European Art History). Elizna studied BA Fine Arts: Graphic Design at the University of Stellenbosch and decided that drawing 24/7 and pulling all-nighters did not give her enough of an adrenaline kick, so she started her own Graphic Design company, called Letterchef. This “Mrs V” has a passion for Typography (as can be seen in the image above. Oh, maybe not ‘that’ specific kind…), she also loves photography and art (and her two cute daughters). She doesn’t just love these arty-things, she is also really good at working with them. And she doesn’t mind doing couture flower arrangements and bouquets for weddings either. In the end, it didn’t hurt at all that she married a “Mr V”, in order to become another “Mrs V” – we are just too happy to have her on board!

Riana van der Walt

The original “Mrs V”, also the mother of Mariza and Elizna – the person who doesn’t need a bio, because the proof is in the pudding. Every single event, be it a wedding or a birthday, has a touch of this lady that is so significant, it can be spotted from a mile away. She is the person who will pull the event together when the rest of us are fretting about the tiniest of silly details. She does flowers and décor, and will occasionally jump in for a wedding dress or a cake. But most importantly, she is our expert and when we have any questions, she always has the answer.